Wifi channel scanner

[kevin roach]

Any one know of one? My Dell has a built in scanner that show wifi channels through N and show both high usage channels and outside interference on channels. Allows me to setup wireless networks and devices on lowest interference channels. I miss it on the iPad.

 

[Gabriel1]

There are lots of wifi apps on the app store, have you looked on there (search for wifi).

The Archangel

 

[twerppoet]

I have yet to see a wi-fi signal scanner in the App Store. I suspect that Apple does not give developers the necessary access to the hardware this type of app. One developer, in the app description, even goes so far as to say Apple prohibits this kind of app.

It's one of the few app types I miss from my old Droid.

Hmm, looking again I do see one. It's called WiFi Radar. It sounds very limited and has horrible reviews. From the description it only lets you know there is a network around, not any info about it. You can get that much by going to the iPad's Network settings.

 

[arttext]

Free Wifi (app)

 

[twerppoet]

Free hotspot/wifi finders are plentiful. They aren't what the OP was looking for, or I misread the post entirely. What is wanted is an app that looks at all the wifi spots in range, and gives the channel and signal strength (at the minimum).

It's a good tool for planning new networks and troubleshooting interference problems.

 

[thewitt]

The API calls necessary for a scanner are not public so no such application will make it into the app store

-t

 

[SweetPoison]

The API calls necessary for a scanner are not public so no such application will make it into the app store

-t

Ever?

 

[thewitt]

Not unless Apple changes the rules or adds some new public API calls I seem to recall a couple of these were created in the very early days and either did not make it into the store or were quickly pulled.

This conversation comes up in the Developer Forums every once in a while.

-t

 

[twerppoet]

I suspected as much. It's just too obvious an app catagory to have been overlooked if it was possible to write. Thanks.

 

[glittergirl]

Yes, there used to be several great apps for this in the app store. Over a year ago Apple decreed that for privacy concerns or something (? Don't remember but I think that was it since some of them returned A LOT of info about the networks) they were banned. The few that remain had to remove much of the info as well as the ability they had to connect to the networks. Sucks because when they existed they could often find & connect to networks my iphone couldn't see or were too weak to hold a normal connection. I believe these apps might have even been pulled before the iPad's release.

If you are jailbroken there is WiFiFoFum and I think a few others to be found on Cydia that do what the app store apps used to be able to do.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF

 

[glittergirl]

Also, I've synced and tried a few times to use some of the copies that I had stored on my computer and never updated, preserving that functionality. iOS4 seems to have broken their capability to ever work now.

Sent from my iPhone using iPF

 

[info]

WifiTrack for iPhone seems to be working perfectly.

 

[info]

Oops, I see that it has been removed from the App Store.

 

[fdisk]

http://wlanbook.com/free-wifi-scanner-iphone-ipad-no-jailbreak-required/

 

[twerppoet]

http://wlanbook.com/free-wifi-scanner-iphone-ipad-no-jailbreak-required/

That's an awesome feature in the Airport Utility. And since it started with iOS 7 I've spent a year without discovering it.

Thanks for pointing it out.